Issue No. 9 (27 October 2017)

Dear Parents,

I am writing to tell you that 3 candidates have been nominated to fill a vacancy for a Parent Member on the School Council.

We will be sending you the ballot paper in an ESF envelope which lists the 3 candidates who have been nominated. Each of the nominated parents has prepared a brief personal statement which will be enclosed in the envelope. You are invited to take part in the voting process. Please note that ballot papers will be issued to students to take home on 2^nd November 2017. It will be helpful if you can ask your son/daughter for the ballot papers to make sure they are not overlooked.

To ensure a robust and fair procedure is followed, ballot papers must be returned to the school in the ESF envelope provided. They may be posted (for the attention of the Clerk to School Council, South Island School, 50 Nam Fung Road, Aberdeen, Hong Kong) or placed directly in the ballot box located at the Main Reception. Ballot papers not in the correct ESF envelope or late arriving after the deadline will not be counted.

Each parent, up to a maximum of two per student, may vote but each parent has only one set of votes per school. Two sets of ballot papers and an envelope are provided. Completed ballot papers must be returned to the school by 4.00pm 15^th November 2017.

Graham Silverthorne
Principal

To celebrate 40 fantastic years of South Island School, our very talented team created a 40 Years Archive Exhibition. The Exhibition was open to our Alumni on Friday 27th October and guided tours through the exhibition and the school were arranged in part of the celebration. The Exhibition is a wonderful reflection of our great school and students will also get the chase to view the exhibition on Monday 30th October.

SIS hosted the annual ESF Professional Development Day this year. The theme was around Wellbeing, of both students and staff. The day started with a Keynote speech from Dr Michael Carr-Gregg who is one of Australia’s highest profile child and adolescent psychologists in private practice. He has worked as an academic, author, researcher, and political lobbyist.

Michael Talked about levels of teacher stress in Australia and related this to the Hong Kong context. He shared some practical, evidence-based solutions.

The remainder of the day was divided up into workshops run by some ESF teachers and some outside speakers, 22 in total, including:

Ash Buchanan, the founder of Cohere, a social and environmental innovation agency and an associate of the Thrive Research Hub at the University of Melbourne who delivered workshops on contextual wellbeing framing, exploration of what mindsets are: including Fixed, Growth and benefit Mindsets, Why mindsets matter, Student and teacher wellbeing in our lives and in our world.

Richard Field, an acclaimed African safari guide and international keynote speaker delivered a presentation on ‘Embracing Personal Responsibility’

Ms. Jenny Chan, a Registered Clinical Psychologist of the Hong Kong Psychology Society, who has many years of experience working in the Social Welfare Department and psychiatric rehabilitation institution also spoke. She specialises in offering psychological assessment and treatment services for people suffering from depression, anxiety, trauma, adjustment difficulties and parent-child relational problems.

Sean Watt who works with schools to continually improve a positive and productive workplace led a workshop on Continual Improvement in Schools.

Some of the workshops were curriculum related and others about personal development. It was an excellent day and everyone had something to take away.

On Tuesday 31^st October it is the Year 7 and 8 Guiding Day, so parents will be visiting school to have meetings with the Tutors. While this is happening the remainder of the staff will be looking on a second development opportunity. This time we will be working on differentiation within our curriculum and classrooms and working on specific units of work.

The Drama department together with other school teams and students from Year 7 to 12 are currently rehearsing for the SIS Whole School Production.  This year it is a theatrical adaptation of William Golding’s classic novel Lord Of The Flies and will be performed on the 20^th, 21^st and 22^nd November at 7.30pm in the School Hall.  This is a piece that resonates with young people as the play explores the survival of a group of school children who have been marooned on a tropical island.  Some of the themes include peer pressure, bullying, civilization and savagery.  It is a set text which is studied in Year 7 and 8 as part of the English Curriculum and the cast would be delighted to have your support at one of the performances.  Look out for the posters and tweets about this event.

SIS is pleased to announce that the Influenza Vaccination Programme 2017 – 2018 is scheduled for Tuesday, 21^st November 2017.

Kinetics Medical Staff will be in school to administer the FLUQUADRI FROM SANOFI PASTEUR (Made in USA) recommended by WHO:

SANOFI PASTEUR (QIV, 4 – STRAINS) is available to those who wish to take part. This vaccine is suitable for individuals aged 6 months of age and older.  It is not suitable to those who are allergic to egg or chicken protein, including Neomycin/Gentamycin.

The cost per vaccine will be HK$170.00.

Payment will be made on that day (cash only).

Registration is now being taken.

Please click here to download the below 18 or adult consent form or obtain it at the medical room.

In order to increase flexibility of the service to the students, staff and their relatives who cannot attend the onsite vaccination, you can purchase the vaccine voucher and receive the injection at your local clinic.

Please email the School Nurse, Ms. Hui, at jhui@sis.edu.hk to register or for further information.

On Thursday 19th the IBCP BTEC Business students hosted a ‘Shave to Save’ event to raise money for the Children’s Cancer Foundation. We are delighted to announce that we raised over HK$20,000 and would like to thank the 7 shavees and numerous contributors who donated to such a wonderful cause.

Mr Cornes